The Forest At Night
by LoveFromShinola
Summary: After ALAYM, but before the cyclone, Fiyero and Elphaba iron out the decisions they've made and how it lead them to be in the forest at night...


**AN:**

**Okay, so this time last week I was watching WICKED, which is making me feel sooo sad, because I really wanna see it again! I bet Gina Beck will do a great job as Galinda (with a GA!) but I thought Louise Dearman was BRILLIANT. And so glad Rachel's staying on until next October Yay! Anyway, here's just a little thing set between ALAYM and the after-conversation. Hope you like. I DO NOT OWN WICKED, it belongs to Gregory Maguire and Stephen Schwartz.**

With a kiss still searing against her lips, a kiss from _Fiyero _of all people, suddenly reality came abruptly crashing down. What was she doing? She was right. At this moment, she did feel wicked for the very first time. How could she – how could he – do this to Glinda? She'd betrayed her best friend in the worst way possible, she'd stolen her partner, well – oh Oz, not even her partner, her fiancé…she felt sick at the thought. She'd kissed her best friend's husband-to-be and Oz knows where Fiyero was expecting this to lead. It was all so, so confusifying. She'd not had time to think, she still hadn't. One minute she'd been desperate to leave, to not to be found or seen - she'd thought Fiyero was against her. The next he was leaving with her and the look of defeat and horror on Glinda's face was called to Elphaba's mind. She truly was wicked, now, for the very first time. Fiyero was still looking at her. She could feel the heat of his gaze, but she couldn't meet his eyes. Guilt was causing her a terrible kind of pain and as he leaned, as if to kiss her again, she shoved him away. He fell onto his back, winded and she got up, fumbling to find her broom.

'Elphaba!' he was shouting, he was staggering to his feet but she didn't want to hear it. All she knew was that what she'd just done was more wrong than anything she'd done before. Glinda had always tried to help her and now she'd repaid her like this. She was the worst person in Oz, she had to leave now, she had to – 'Elphaba?' She'd left it too late. He caught hold of the end of her broom and in a rage she tried to pry his hand away, madly scratching at his fingers, not sure whether she wanted to laugh or to cry or to scream. 'Elphaba! Stop!' He caught her hands but she fought back at him, trying to wrench from his grasp, jerking, kicking, yelling. He gathered her to him but she fought tirelessly, punching his chest, even catching the side of his head. He stood like stone, unmovable, as she beat against him. She'd have thought by now some magic might have come to her aid but it hadn't. Just like before, it seemed her magic didn't want to work against him. Her own damned power, the only power she had, was betraying her. She wanted to blast him to the other side of Oz, or out of Oz altogether. She wanted to force him away, so far he could never come back. Though before she had been lonely, she had had her little power. She'd been feared, she'd been treated with a nervous respect. He wasn't afraid, she didn't think he'd ever be afraid. He wouldn't leave and she needed him to, if only so that image of Glinda's cheated face would leave her in peace too.

Of course he didn't know that. He stayed there for what seemed far too long, until every move she made had less conviction. Her limbs were aching, her breath strained and suddenly she realised there were tears on her face and she could fight it no longer. His arms were still around her and there was comfort in the closeness of another human being. She'd never really had it before. Her father had never wanted to touch her. Nessa didn't do so much. Glinda had, of course…but it hurt too much to think of Glinda now. In these years of isolation, no-one had wanted to touch her. And now, here he was, this annoying, stupid man, holding her so carefully she thought she might weep more from the feel of it. Even witches get tired and so, finally, she sank into him and his grip on her became tighter and tighter and he buried his face in her hair. Sobs came faster and harder and he just stood there and she wanted him to say something, anything, so she wouldn't feel like she wanted to take it all back – just so she could look at Glinda with a clear conscience.

'Elphaba?' he finally voiced, murmuring against her tresses. She nodded in response, words beyond her. 'What is it?'

The moment was broken. Angry again, experiencing a tumult of emotions that left her exhausted, she once more pushed away but this time he didn't fall.

'_What is it? _You – you show up, Captain of the Gale Force and you, you come along with me, you leave everything behind, everything, _everyone_. You tell me all these wonderful things, you kiss me and – and all the time, all I can think is how, how wicked this is, how wrong! Fiyero…' she sighed. All energy was steadily dissipating. '…you're _engaged to Glinda._'

'No.' he said. Just 'no'. She could have strangled him.

'_No?' _she hissed. 'No?' she advanced on him, broom in hand and in a flash he saw what everyone else saw when they looked at her. Her hair spilling across her shoulders, wild, buffeted by wind. Her dress ragged and wet and mud-soaked, her green face lit with fury. She was every inch the terrible Wicked Witch. 'What do you mean, no? You had an engagement party, Boq, he told Nessa, you were engaged to Glinda! How can I, how can we, I – I don't – oh - '

The emotions whirled in her mind until she could bear it no longer. She fell to the ground and he came running and as much as she wanted him to stay away, she wanted to come to her too.

'Elphaba, listen to me.' He took her hands and she stared at the contrast, green against white – against normal. What was she doing? This was about so much more than Glinda. She was a witch for Oz's sake! A green, fugitive, wicked witch and he – he was a Prince! Maybe he could see her thoughts in her eyes, because he lifted her face to his. 'Listen.' He said firmly and she saw how much he'd changed since she saw him last. His eyes were harder, more mature. He was a long way from the Fiyero who danced through life. She couldn't do anything but listen. 'Glinda, she, she surprised me with it all. I had no idea. You know what she's like, I, I couldn't do anything to stop it. I could hardly refuse her in front of all those people. But – I don't, I never – oh Elphaba, don't you know I never loved her?'

There was a silence, more deafening than any she had ever experienced. It pressed on her eardrums more than any she had endured in all her times of solitude. The statement was too unbelievable. Never loved Glinda? That perfect, coiffed, manicured Glinda, born to be a Princess? _Never loved Glinda?_

'You – what do you mean?'

'You know what I mean,' he said softly. 'Don't you, Fae? You must know.'

'I – no. No, I, I don't.'

'Fae,' he whispered, lips pressing hot breath to her ear, 'I never loved Glinda, because I love _you_.'

The realisation widened her eyes further than she knew they could go. Of course, she knew if he'd left with her he must have felt something. But despite the evidence in his actions she'd ignored it, denied with every fibre of her green-skinned body that there was any chance. Any chance that a man like him could ever love someone like her. Even Fiyero wasn't _that _stupid.

'Yero…' she breathed. 'You – you can't mean it.'

'Why not?' He saw her wild expression and backed away. The chill that invaded her body sent the greatest of shivers down her spine. Though she'd run from those arms tonight, now she needed them around her, no matter how wrong it might be. But the look of anger and incredulity on his brow put any thoughts of closeness from her mind. 'Why can't I love you? Oz, I've – I've loved you for so long I can't remember how it felt _not _to love you! Didn't you wonder why a brainless idiot like me, who didn't need any position, why I joined the Gale Force?' Before she could speak he did. It was his turn to vent his frustrations and she could do nothing but watch. 'I joined so I could look for _you_!' He pointed at her accusingly and she might have flinched, if she were made of lesser material. 'No other reason. I've driven myself crazy searching for you. I've spent every minute I could hoping I'd hear something, anything so that I could find you first, before anyone else did. Before anyone could hurt you!' He saw how shocked she looked and an instant wave of sympathy washed over him. She wasn't used to people looking out for her. The days of Shiz were long gone, the days of Dillamond and Glinda, Nessa and Boq. She was a woman now once again used to being shunned and ignored, even more so than before. She shivered and he came to collect her. The contented sound she made when he took her in an embrace might have been imagined. 'Don't underestimate my feelings.' He murmured. He buried his face back into the mass of ebony, the glorious tangled mess that was her hair and that smelt so – her. 'Don't do that. I can't waste time arguing with you. Not you. I've spent too long trying to _find _you. Just – just know that I love you. Just…know.' He closed his eyes and hardly expected to hear anything from her.

'I love you too.'

His eyes snapped open and he looked to see her nervously regarding him.

'You do?' She could only nod. 'What happened to all the things that you said before? About how I was enga -' She pressed a slim, green finger to his lips.

'Don't. Don't ruin it. _Yes_, I feel horrible. But, if we only have a little time – I can't waste it arguing. If you never loved her - '

'I didn't. I love her as a friend but as - ' She silenced him again.

'_If _you never loved her, then tonight is for us. Tomorrow we can think about other people. I've thought about other people my whole life. Tonight, I want to think about me.'

He grinned and her eyes sparkled to see some of that old Fiyero left in him.

'What about me?' he mock pouted and she smiled. Ever so carefully, very unlike their passionate kiss not so long ago, she pressed her lips to his.

'Fine. You _and _me. Fair?'

'Very.'

Together they sank to a bed of leaves, overlooked by a canopy of trees and stars. Together they forgot talk of Oz and of others. There was no Wizard, no Wicked Witch, nor were there any Animals. Even sisters and friends disappeared from their thoughts. Tonight was for them and for them alone. Tomorrow would begin when it did. For now, they had each other.

**AN:**

**I hope you like it I didn't just want them instantaneously falling into each other's arms, because Elphaba's got more restraint about her than that – particularly with him being Glinda's fiancé. Anyway, PLEASE drop me a review. Love you guys x**


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